Puerto del Rosario is the capital city of Fuerteventura yet it seems many of the island’s visitors never make it there. Quite why it is ignored by round-island tours is a mystery. We loved our short time in the city depsite the best efforts of the calima to spoil our enjoyment. It’s a great place for fans of street art, murals, sculptures and even quality dining. Moovit was invaluable in helping us to work out the bus timetable on a Sunday after our arrival in Corralejo. It was an easy journey but we missed out on seeing the amazing sand dunes thanks to the weather.
Let’s start with street art. There are many incredible murals all around the city. Apparently the tourist information office has a leaflet available but it doesn’t seem to be online, and that’s not very helpful when they are closed on the days of your visit! So, we wandered quite randomly around enjoying lots of free art. There are even some inside the bus station, with the superheroes spectacle on the side of a house right opposite the main transport hub.
The open air art gallery also has a lot of sculptures on display. We really liked the fisherman by the marina and the canoeist. The cyclist was just outside our hotel. Many seafaring statues can be found along the promenade, but keep an eye out in every possible place!
As you walk along the promenade its hard miss the whale skeleton. There are a few of these around the island but that doesn’t make it any less impressive. There are also a few lime kilns dotted around the island. In these days of mass tourism its hard to imagine a thriving traditional industry built from these structures. Some operated until as recently as 1970 when the cement industry finally killed it off.
We decided to splash out and stay at the Hotel el Mirador de Fuerteventura. This hotel was once a Parador. It’s location is perfect just a few kilometres outside the city towards the airport. There should be an easy walk along the promenade to get to the centre too, but at the moment a huge construction project is underway which, when finished, will be beautiful, but at the moment you need to walk on the dirt track alongside the works. That, coupled with the intense calima, spoiled the walk somewhat! It’s only a handful of Euros to get a taxi though.
If you are looking for somewhere in Puerto del Rosario for a fabulous dining experience then we really recommend you seek out El Bounty. We were really lucky and got in without a reservation but booking ahead would appear to be a much better option. There’s not a lot of capacity meaning they can pay very special attention to what they are cooking up. The grilled cheese was heavenly. Mrs Paella loved the goat stew whilst I went for the fish which was out of this world. That’s not praise I often give out, so take note! They also do a great paella but you’ll have to pre-order. To finish the meal we were offered a chupito as is quite common. This one was different though. Imagine limoncello but made with passion fruit straight from the owner’s garden. An absolute five star experience without the Michelen prices!
On another day there would have been an aviation element to this post as the hotel was on the flightpath to the airport. Don’t let that put you off though as they don’t operate through the night. Sadly the calima meant that we could hardly see the beach, let alone any aircraft trying to land!
